Voitinskii_Stormy_passage

239 Siberia

training he had been sent to the front and had often been under fîre.
I asked him, "How are things at the front?"

"If they do not make peace soon, there will be a révolution/' He
spoke loudly, paying no attention to the people around us.

I said quietly, "Let's go somewhere else. Too many people
here. . .

"You mean the police?" he interrupted. "We spit on them in the
trenches. A soldier at the front does not give a damn for the officers
either. What can they do? Whoever tries to gag the men will get the
first bullet."

This défiance was alien to Sechkin's character, and for a moment I
thought he was drunk. I took him to a quieter street where we could
talk freely. He was sober but excited, eager to talk about what he had
gone through. Senseless death under fîre, aimless movements of troops,
foolish orders, and — treason, treason everywhere! I asked myself how
many other soldiers believed they had been sent to their death by
traitors. Obviously the whole army could not be in Sechkin's state
of mind, but it was also clear that in some sectors of the front, dis-
integration had reached a stage at which the army had ceased to be
an obedient tool. If this spirit spread further, it would end the régime
of absolutism.

The tide was mounting and a new storm was approaching. A décade
earlier the révolution had been crushed by the armed forces because
there was no unity in its camp. Now the people had another chance.
Now the oppressors were losing control over the armed forces. What
would the new révolution bring to the people?

D

Original from
UNIVERSITE OF MICHIGAN